Virginia
by Potion Master
Summary: Set in the same universe as The Courier but 18 months earlier. Ginny Weasley's transformation from scared teenager to - well, you'll just have to read to see what she becomes!
1. The Decision

Set just after Voldemort's victory and 18 months before The Courier. The story of Ginny Weasley's journey.  
  
Any characters you recognize belong to the incomparable JKR and her publishers, any you don't know are mine. Please don't "borrow" them without permission.  
  
Thanks to my wonderful beta Steph  
  
  
  
"The three of us should split up, go our separate ways. We'll be safer that way," the voice said. It was hushed in order not to wake the girl sleeping in the next room.  
  
"Are you insane?!" The reply was still whispered but so intense that it might as well have been screamed.  
  
"We can't go on like this, hiding in corners, travelling by night. It's only a matter of time before we're found. We'd be easier to overlook on our own."  
  
"We're supposed to look after her, we can't just abandon her like so much excess baggage just because it's dangerous."  
  
"I'm not talking about abandoning her, I'm talking about hiding her. She'll be able to disappear if she's on her own. He'd never expect us to leave her alone," the first voice was also gaining in intensity now, if not volume.  
  
"Does it occur to you that if even a madman thinks it's a bad idea, then it might just possibly be a bad idea?"  
  
"For Merlin's sake Ron, she's not a child any more. She can look after herself and she'll be able to blend into the muggle world with ease. She'll be safe and we can get back to fighting instead of running."  
  
"What the hell would you know about fighting? All you know how to do is fill out forms," the second voice sneered. "You're scared we're going to get caught and that your baby sister is slowing you down."  
  
There was the sound of a scuffle before the first voice replied, however instead of a whisper it was now a growl, laced with rage. "Don't you ever say that to me again. I'm doing the best I can to keep all of us safe and if you weren't so damn pig-headed you'd see that you stupid little boy!"  
  
At this point another voice joined in, "Guys I am awake you know."  
  
Ginny Weasley stood in the doorway of the room and surveyed the ruined house, which had been their hiding place for the last three days. The room she had come from was the only room still in one piece and so had been turned into a bedroom by the three fugitives. This room however had obviously borne the brunt of the violence of the battle, which had destroyed the rest of the building. The walls were still standing, but only just, and there were gaping holes in the scorched plasterwork, which hung from them. The roof was almost completely gone and the floor was scorched beyond repair. It had once been the home of a family of wizards who had allied with Dumbledore against the forces of the Dark Lord but there was no clue remaining as to what had happened to them or to their attackers. The two men, one of them still almost young enough to be called a boy really, were on the far side of the room from Ginny. The older one had his brother pinned against the wall by the throat and an expression of absolute fury on his face.  
  
Ginny spoke again, "Percy, put him down, he didn't mean it. I know you're both angry and frustrated but fighting amongst ourselves won't help." She waited until the older man had released the younger with an apologetic look before speaking again. "I heard what you were arguing about, and I'm not anxious to try surviving on my own, but I think Percy's probably right. Voldemort's after me really, not you two. Without me around the heat will be off you guys and you can try and hook up with some of the others. I can live in the muggle world alright, I've spent enough holidays with 'Mione to be able to cope."  
  
"Ron and I probably have enough muggle money between us to find you somewhere to live for a couple of weeks. You'll need to find a job." Percy said. "I might be able to help with that too."  
  
"Percy, you went straight from school to the Ministry. How on earth are you going to be able to find a job in muggle London?" Ron queried.  
  
"Bill gave me the name of a friend of his we could contact if we got really desperate. He runs a bar, maybe he needs a barmaid or a waitress or something," Percy replied.  
  
"You've got this all rather well planned out," said Ron suspiciously. "How long have you been thinking about this?"  
  
"Since our narrow escape from that Death Eater Squad in Manchester last week," Percy admitted. "I didn't want to say anything until it was absolutely necessary."  
  
Ginny looked down at her hands, which were clasped in front of her, before looking up at her brothers again, determined not to let them see just how scared she really felt, "When do I leave?"  
  
"If you go now you'll have time to see Bill's friend and get a room before night fall," Percy replied miserably.  
  
The three of them made preparations for the trip in silence, as if not talking about it would somehow stop it from being real. All too soon however she was ready; she had a purse full of muggle money and a slip of paper on which Percy had written the name of the bar and the man she was supposed to meet. She and Ron looked up at the same moment and their eyes met and locked. Dropping her rucksack on the floor, she flew across the room and into his arms.  
  
"Oh God, I'm going to miss you so much," she cried.  
  
"Me too," he said gruffly, clearly on the verge of tears himself. "Be safe, kid."  
  
"You too," she sobbed, "Both of you. Remember what dad used to say about dead heroes being no use to anyone."  
  
She let go of Ron and threw her arms around Percy. He held her tight and briefly buried his face in her hair. She could have sworn he was crying but when he pulled away from her his voice was steady, with no trace of any emotion in it.  
  
"I'm going to give you a few hours to get sorted and then I'm sending you Hermes," he said. "If you need us just send him back and someone will come and get you."  
  
"But he's yours," she argued. "I can't take him."  
  
"He'll be better off with you," Percy insisted. "He'd much prefer staying in one place than traipsing around the country like we have been."  
  
"I'd tell you to take Pig instead," Ron said. "But let's face it he'd probably get lost or something."  
  
The two men hugged her again.  
  
"Apparate to Trafalgar Square since you've been there before and then get one of those muggle car things to take you to the bar," Percy said.  
  
"Cabs, they're called cabs, Percy." Ginny replied. "I know what I'm doing. I'd better go."  
  
The three of them looked at one another, not quite sure what to do, and then Ginny took a step backwards and disappeared. 


	2. The Pink Flamingo

Apparating into an alleyway near Trafalgar Square was easy, Ginny discovered. Finding a cab, now that was a challenge. However, she eventually managed to get one to take her to the bar Percy had told her about.  
  
The bar was located in an unimposing brick building that might have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for the large neon sign over the doorway.  
  
"Are you sure you've got the right address luv?" the cabbie asked her as he drew up outside.  
  
"Yes, why?" she asked.  
  
"Well, that's a gay bar, men only, you know? And I can't help but notice that you're a girl," the driver continued.  
  
"I'm looking for a job," she replied. "I know the owner. Sort of."  
  
She watched the cab drive off and then turned and walked towards the club, trying to look a lot more confident than she actually felt. She tried the door and found that it wasn't locked. Opening it she entered the dark bar and looked around.  
  
"Hello, is there anybody here?" she called.  
  
"Whatever it is you're selling, I don't want any," came a voice from a room behind the bar.  
  
"I'm not selling anything," Ginny said.  
  
"Well what do you want then?" The owner of the voice appeared in the doorway. Ginny guessed that the man was in his mid-thirties. He was taller than her, but not by much and his hair was a dirty blond colour. He was wiping his hands on some kind of dishcloth as he leant against the doorframe waiting for her answer.  
  
"I'm looking for … umm, hang on a minute," she said pulling the scrap of paper Percy had given her from her pocket. "Michael O'Brien?"  
  
"You've found him, lass," the man said. "What was it you wanted?"  
  
"My brother gave me your name. He said you might be able to help me His names Bill, Bill Weasley."  
  
"You're Bill's young sister? You're older than I would have thought, but now you mention it I can see a certain family resemblance," Michael said, his face breaking into a huge grin. "Come here, sit down, let me get you a drink, tell me what I can do for you." He waved her over and indicated one of the bar stools. "Do you want a Coke or are you old enough for something a little stronger?"  
  
"I'm 18," she said. "But Coke will be fine thanks."  
  
Michael sat down on a stool next to her and looked at her more carefully, noting her worn clothing and tangled hair and the shadows under her eyes.  
  
"Don't take this the wrong way, hon, but you look like you've seen better days."  
  
"Yeah, um, this is really difficult, Mr. O'Brien. My brother gave us your name but he didn't say whether he told you anything about us or why we might need your help," Ginny said, praying that he at least knew something about the magical world or there was a good chance he was going to think she was nuts.  
  
"My name's Mike or Michael, honey. I hear Mr. O'Brien and I start looking around for my father. I know Bill's a wizard if that's what you mean and I assume you are too. He said something about a war brewing but I don't know any details. He and I had better things to do than discuss politics, if you catch my drift," Mike said with a wink.  
  
"Oh," Ginny said blushing. "You mean you and he were … He didn't tell us that."  
  
"In my experience guys very rarely discuss their love lives with their kid sisters," Mike laughed. "But I thought you should know. I'm only telling you so you don't think that I'm keeping any secrets from you. You look like you could use a friend and I want you to feel you can trust me."  
  
"Did he tell you anything about You-Know, I mean Voldemort?" she asked.  
  
"Is he the Darth Vader type with the snake fixation?"  
  
Ginny choked on her drink. "Well I've never heard it described like that before but yeah, I guess you could call him that. He's a very powerful Dark Wizard, who hates muggles and muggle-born wizards. We've been fighting him more or less for my whole life but a couple of months ago he destroyed the Ministry of Magic, blew up Hogwarts and took over. The good guys, that's us," she added with a small smile. "The good guys are all in hiding, trying to organise some kind of resistance. He's hunting me for reasons that are too complicated to go into right now and my brothers want me to hide in the muggle world for a while. I've got very little money, nowhere to live, no job, and you're the only person I know in muggle London."  
  
"Well, you are in trouble, aren't you?" Mike said. "I assume you can't risk using your magic for anything if you're in hiding. What about your name, are you going to change that? Because if so you're going to need some fake identification papers."  
  
"We don't know whether Voldemort can detect magic or not but it's probably safer to assume that he can. Yes I need to change my name, but I don't know to what, and do I really need identification papers?"  
  
"You're going to need some kind of proof of identity if you want to find somewhere to live and you'll need a national insurance number in order to get a job," Mike said. "Look, don't worry, we'll sort something out. There's a flat over the bar you can have and once we've got your papers sorted out you can work here. I always need new bar staff and I doubt you've got the type of qualifications most employers are looking for anyway. Being able to turn someone into a frog's not generally seen as useful experience in our world." 


	3. Getting Settled

Ginny was pleasantly surprised when Mike showed her the flat that occupied most of the floor above the bar. Having grown up in a house that was always full to overflowing with other Weasleys, she was enthralled by the idea of having an entire flat to herself. It consisted of a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and a surprisingly large living room.  
  
"Oh, but this is wonderful. It's far too generous; I couldn't possibly stay here," Ginny exclaimed.  
  
"Of course you can. At the moment it's standing empty. I have the flat upstairs and I can't find anyone to let this place. It gets a little noisy what with the bar being downstairs and everything, but if you came to work for me then it wouldn't be likely to bother you; and you'd be working hard enough to deserve the flat as well as a decent wage." Mike turned to her and smiled, "Well, what do you say?"  
  
"It sounds perfect. Thank you so much, it's like the answer to a prayer," she said fervently.  
  
Mike laughed. "You know, you're good for my ego. Look, drop your stuff and I'll show you the ropes downstairs. Tonight we'll talk to a guy I know about changing your identity and tomorrow we'll go shopping and get you some more things."  
  
"More things?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I've never met a woman who can live out of a bag as small as that for more than a couple of days. You're probably going to want some more clothes and if you're going to be working in the bar I guess you'll probably want some make-up and stuff."  
  
  
  
That evening Mike and his regular barman, Paul, were showing Ginny how everything worked so that she'd be able to start as soon as she had her new papers sorted out. She was clearing and wiping tables when Mike called her over.  
  
"Virginia, this is an associate of mine, Tony Stark. Tony, this is my niece Virginia," he winked at Ginny as he said this. "She needs to change her name in a hurry. Can you sort something out for us?"  
  
The man in question was short and somewhat overweight with a red face, which seemed to sport an almost permanent grin. "Sure, sure, let's go into your office and discuss it."  
  
Mike led them both into the small room behind the bar.  
  
"So tell me luv, what kind of trouble you in? 'Cos I really don't need any hassle from the fuzz if I can help it," Tony asked.  
  
"Oh, um," she glanced at Mike before coming out with the cover story they had devised that afternoon. "I'm hiding from my boyfriend. He threatened to come after me if I ever left him so my mother sent me over here to stay with Uncle Mike, but I'm afraid to use any of my bank cards or anything in case he traces me and I was scared to try and get a work permit in case he found me. Without that or a national insurance number I can't work or anything. I don't want Uncle Mike to have to keep looking after me." She smiled at the older man who was looking at her kindly now.  
  
"Oh you poor kid. Still, time to make a new start hey." He pulled out a notepad and started making some notes in it. "So you're from Ireland originally, then?"  
  
She nodded and he continued, "OK. I'm going to need your birth date and the name you're going to use. Best stick to your real birth date, that way you can't get tripped up. Always hide a lie inside the truth, that's my motto. Also I'll need some passport photos, but you can drop them in some time tomorrow. What are we looking at here, Mike? Passport, NI number and a birth certificate?"  
  
"Sounds good. I can get her on the books here once I have some details for the employment record and we can sort out the bank account ourselves with what you're giving us," Mike looked over at Ginny. "We decided she'd stick with Virginia since she's a little old to start answering to anything else. Mary Virginia O'Brien, birth date 7th June 1981. All right, hon?"  
  
Ginny nodded again, "Thanks." 


End file.
